Uncorkings 10.25

News and notes from the world of wine.

By Kara Newman

Slow Food, the global movement championing farm-fresh food enjoyed at leisure, has published its first wine guide. The guide, Slow Wine 2011, intended as an alternative to the established Gambero Rosso wine guide, covers only Italian wine, and rejects points-based ratings in favor of qualitative assessments.

California vintners say that the 2010 harvest season has been the most unusual in memory thanks to challenging and unseasonable weather conditions, delivering grapes wth uncharacteristically higher acidity and lower sugar, “more Bordeaux than Napa.”

Anthony Walkenhorst was named chief winemaker at Kim Crawford Wines, based in Marlborough, New Zealand. Walkenhorst replaces Matt Large, who had assumed winemaking responsibilities in 2007 from Kim Crawford himself.

Constellation Brands reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit as U.S. consumers bought more higher-priced wine, in a sign that consumers are "trading up." The world's largest branded winemaker, whose portfolio includes Robert Mondavi and Ravenswood, also attributed its strategy of having exclusive distributors as a reason for its improving performance, and affirmed its full-year forecast.